Maple Leafs at Penguins - Second Period - 12-27-09
SECOND PERIOD
18:09: The Maple Leafs mishandle the puck at their own blue line and it comes right to Guerin who gets set loose on a breakaway. He glides in on net and shoots five hole and is denied by Toskala who is able to hold it out.
17:27: Cooke and Grabovski race after a puck behind the Toronto net. Grabovski takes a spill and is a little shaken up.
17:00: Attendance is announced at 17,132, a complete standing room only sellout. It is the team's 139 consecutive sell out.
16:01: Despite traffic, Fleury fights off a wrister by Blake from the left wing.
14:59: Malkin roars up the left wing, cuts towards the net behind Beauchemin and attempts to dish a pass to the slot. The puck hits off the skate of White and ricochets juuuuust wide of the far post. As that happens, Beauchemin hits Malkin into the net and and dislodges it.
14:04: Staal swoops behind the cage from the left wing, emerges on the other side and tries to tuck a wraparound by Toskala. Toskal holds it out despite a few jabs by Cooke who raise his hands for some reason. Was he hoping the officials would just call a goal since his hands were up?
13:50: The great Markint Skoula keeps a puck in the offensive zone at the top of the slot and dishes it to Dupuis off the right half wall. Dupuis uncorks a one-timer that Toskala fights off.
12:54: Matt Stajan is nabbed for hooking Kunitz. Malkin, Kunitz, GOnchar, Crosby and Guerin take the ice.
12:12: How did that go in!?! Crosby controls the puck on the rileft wing, coasts across the slot with no contact and gets Toskala to commit and flop to the ice. From there, Crosby is able to sneak the puck under Toskala's right leg and bank it off his left leg andinto the net. That was a marvelous effort, but where was Toronto's defense? Gonchar and Guerin get the assists. The power play racks up another score against a poor team with a backup goaltender. The "Hey Song" is never poor. Maple Leafs 2, Penguins 2.
8:51: "LET'S GO PENS! LET'S GO PENS!"
8:32: Guerin dishes a pass to Kunitz in the left faceoff circle. Kunitz releases a low wrister which Toskala gloves.
8:30: Off a faceoff wing, Malkin sneaks behind Mayers and rips a wrister that actually gets by Toskala but hits off the far post.
6:30: We neglected to mention that Jordan Staal is not playing with a visor.
4:53: Who else but Jason Blake? Stempniak and Blake race up the right wing on a give and go. Stempniak dishes to Blake and from the slot, Blake fires an ordinary wrister that clunks through Fleury's five hole and into the cage. That was a brutal goal to give up and Fleury knows it. He's visibly upset with himself. That's like Blake's 293rd career goal against the Penguins. We thnk Stempniak and White get assists. Maple Leafs 3-2.
3:24: Crosby abuses Schenn again (Schenn was the player Crosby skated by on his power play goal) and moves up the left wing. He gets by the Toronto defenseman with a fancy move and sneaks a wrister low. Toskala holds it out.
2:26: Malkin forces a turnover in Toronto's slot. Guerin gets the puck in the corner on the right wing and dishes it back to Malkin who stabs at the puck a few times before Toskala freezes it. Heck of an effort by Malkin.
1:16: Crosby commits his second sloppy turnover in his own zone and he blindly fires a pass to Grabovski. Thankfruly for the Penguins, Grabovski wasn't ready for it and the pucks escapes the zone.
0:09: Fleury fights off a one-timer by Kulemin from the left point.
0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 3, Penguins 2.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-The Penguins picked things up a bit there but it still wasn't enough to match the Maple Leafs. THey were again outworked that period.
-That said, a bad goal against a player who always has success against the Penguins is the difference.
-Things really got choppy and even sloppy that period. There's not a ton of flow to this game.
-Malkin was strong that period. He was quite strong in the offensive zone and really pressed the issue near the net. We'll be shocked if he doesn't end up with a goal before this night over.
-It would be a stretch to say either goaltender has been tested tonight.
-The Penguins have a 17-16 edge in shots.
-Guerin leads the game with four shots.
-Stempniak and Blake each lead the Maple Leafs with three.
-Beauchemin leads the game with 17:56 of ice time.
-Gonchar leads the Penguins with 15:58.
-The Penguins control faceoffs 24-12 (67 percent).
-Malkin is 5 for 6 (83 percent).
-Grabovski is 5 for 9 (56 percent).
-Who else but Jay McKee would lead the game with three blocked shots?
-Schenn leads the Maple Leafs with two.